Nathan & Malinda's Wedding

Thanks for having a wedding so I had cool things to take photos of :P

More seriously, congratulations on your marriage and best wishes for your future together.
Thanks for a great day. :)

PS: This was a tech-free ceremony so this isn't a full sequence.

Jarrod's 18th Birthday

The little bro turned 18 this year, and several of us decided that was a milestone worth celebrating, so organised a little surprise for him :) 

Alex & Isaac {secretly ;P } came up from Wellington for the event, turning up at our place to surprise him a little before we said we had to leave (destination unknown ;) haha) 

We met a couple of others at Escapade for our first experience with escape rooms. Initially we were at a bit of a loss what to do, and I would by no means call myself an expert now but we did better as we went along, and I think we all had fun in the end. 

Afterwards a couple more friends joined us for dinner and I think a pleasant evening was enjoyed by all :) 

Joel & Esther's Wedding

The day I survived on ~2-2 1/2 hours sleep {and decided that really wasn't enough}

And that day that two old homeschool friends tied the knot

Sidenote: I'm officially old now. The bride is younger than I am :O ;P 

#someonegetmeawalkingstick #please #jokes

But in all seriousness, it was a good day and I was glad to be part of their celebration :)

Congrats & best wishes for your new life together Joel & Es <3

: : Entrance of the bride : :

: : Wedding party : :
L-R: Jessamae, Emma, Ruth, Esther, Nathan, Joel, Alan, Timothy, Samuel

: : Signing the registry : :

: : Bridesmaids : :

: : Exit : :

 : : Spot the key word ;P : :

: : All those lights! : :
*heart eyes*

: : Table setting {kinda : :
{Sorry, I was so tired I didn't really even think about the camera until it was over #failphotog #oops}

Aussie Trip {Part 12} Port Macquarie Wrap-Up

On my last day in Port Macquarie, Aunty Dee had to go back to work and most of the others had to study for school or uni, so I had a pretty quiet day getting my stuff organised to leave and such. After work Aunty Dee and Kimmi took me partway to Grafton, and we met up with my friend Bethany so I could spend a couple of days with her. I think I'm mostly going to let the photos speak, along with a caption here and there this time. Thanks so much for everything guys; I had a really nice stay with you all! :)

: : Travelling the world, trying out different irons ;P : :

: : Oops idk what happened with me there . . . ! : :
So excited that the light keeps hitting Liam's eyes just right! #photographerdreamcometrue

: : Do we have these signs in NZ?! : :
I thought it was strange we were about to drive straight onto an island . . . #oops

: : Major intersection with trees instead of high-rise buildings?! All the way!! : :

: : Trying to get the creative juices flowing : :

: : Liam was so excited to meet one of his NZ cousins! : :

: : +Susannah Smith when I finally had wifi and we could message!! : :

: : Morning drinks on my last morning : :

: : So many great memories around this table in just a few short days : :

Aussie Trip {Part 11} More Beach Shots

We made the most of the amazing weather (aka heat wave) while I was in Port Macquarie, with trips the the beach two days in a row. We took books and snacks along and just relaxed and chatted and took it easy for a bit. :) The one problem was I hadn't gotten into the habit of applying sun screen (in NZ I had still been wearing long boots and my puffer jacket :P) so burning two days in a row wasn't ideal. #notefornexttime

Since I haven't quite replaced my dinosaur-age laptop that's required for all my photo editing, I'm splitting my beach pics between two posts. ;)

: : Miss ya Liam : :

: : Helping Dad watch the beach : :

: : We actually managed a group shot!! : :

: : Oops wrong jandals, should have taken my red ones ;P : :

Aussie Trip {Part 10} Thirty or Thirty-Eight Degrees?!

I spent an extended weekend in Port Macquarie with Uncle Simon and Aunty Dee, and Nathan, Kimberley, and Liam, and wow it flew by so fast! We kept things pretty relaxing which was nice. Uncle Simon and Aunty Dee had visited NZ briefly in April for Uncle Pete and Aunty Louise's wedding, but we didn't have much of a chance to talk; and it had been 10 1/2 years since I last saw Nath and Kim. I think I said already that this was the first time Liam and I had met. So it was nice to keep things pretty low-key and have plenty of time to talk and catch up. 

A heat wave hit Port Macquarie the weekend I was down (#perfecttiming) so I think we had upwards of 30 degrees nearly every day, although the mornings and evenings were still a bit chilly. It was so nice to be able to have most of our meals outside, or just sit out there talking, reading, or emailing home lol.

: : Liam and koala : :
Port Macquarie has a whole trail of these koalas apparently,
although we only saw a couple when we went out for ice cream and a walk one night
guess I'll put that on the list for next time I'm over. ;)

: : Old well I think?! : : 

We went to the beach a couple of times and it gets warm just sitting there! Snapchat said it was 38 degrees or something one day I think, although I'm not sure that's 100% accurate. I inadvertently got a head start on my tan for the summer . . . hooray for natural-coloured stockings for church lol. ;P

: : Playing with his new Lego : :

: : Kimberley (right) and a friend : :